Target Lock

Palau Piri Island 0725 Hours, Zone Time: August 17, 2008

Mr. Lan Lo stood waiting beside the breakfast table in the central lanai. He had known for an hour already of the night events at Adat Tanjung and of the loss of the fleet units, but he had kept the knowledge to himself. There was no immediate action that could be taken, and it would be better for Mr. Harconan to be centered from his morning swim and run before he was apprised.

It was unfortunate.

Lo was not a man of overt passions, but he did have a profound understanding of the human condition. His employer, Makara Harconan, was a man in the total and classical sense of the word. Thus he required a mate for completeness, the proper balancing of Yin and Yang. More than that, however, Mr. Harconan was a man of extraordinary capabilities. Such men frequently require extraordinary women to match them because they rapidly become bored and unsatisfied with the frivolous or the commonplace.

Over the past few days, Mr. Harconan had given every indication of having found one such extraordinary woman. Regrettably she was also his blood enemy, who was striving with her own considerable resources to destroy both him and his works.

Truly a tragedy on a par with any told in the wayang poems of the Ramayana. No doubt resolution would be… difficult.

Mr. Harconan strode into the inner garden looking enervated and happy with his world. Lo allowed him to take his chair and then related the events of the night, telling of the secrets presumed lost to the Americans and of the slash at the heart of the Bugis fleet.

When he was finished, Mr. Harconan stared at the tabletop. “She must have known,” he said. “She must have had the entire attack set up and in motion before I brought her here. She looked me in the eyes and never a hint. Never a slip. Not even when…”

“Quite so, Mr. Harconan.”